Leviathan (Fist of Light Series) Read Free Page B

he spat through our mental link.
    “Let's turn up the heat then, shall we?” Grimacing painfully, I manifested a shroud of lightning around my blades.
    My senses extended. I was no longer Caleb Holden. I became a functioning unit devoid of anything but a singular purpose, a hand of death, riding the currents of a timeless struggle. My body was a tool, and the weapons in my hands were merely an extension of that will. Acting and reacting on basic, primal instinct, the vampires were unable to stand against my might. Sparks flew and commingled with sprays of blood, some of it my own. Lightning traveled the length of a rapier that had crossed blades with me, and the undead arm holding unclenched reflexively, disarmed. I launched myself from the ground and planted my feet firmly into the chest of the defenseless vamp, taking him to ground. With blades held on either side of his neck, my two simultaneous slashes beheaded the minion. Rolling forward, I nearly avoided a dagger’s slash then came up into a fighting stance, back to the abyssal depths behind me.
    Only three vampires remained, all wounded. A stream of blood ran down my own slashed arm and mixed with the rain. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, I launched myself backward, calling Air to my aid. Instead of falling to my doom, however, a purple platform of power held me stationary, suspended midair.
    “Well then, boys, I haven't got all day,” I taunted.
    After wiping vampire blood from the blade, I replaced my stiletto back in its sheath. I projected another whip of Air, this one with serrated teeth. The snapping whip latched onto the neck of its hapless victim, sinking in with greedy teeth. I pulled roughly and the vamp was forced into open air, arms scrabbling uselessly for the safety of hard ground. I slapped my hand down on the platform, binding the cord of Air and the flailing vamp to its frame. The serrated teeth along the whip’s interior slowly wormed their way inward until the vampire’s head detached itself and the ruined body fell into the chasm. Strangled gasps reached me from below, but my attention was no longer focused there. Instead, I followed the path of the two remaining vamps as they arced towards me. As they neared the platform, I called Air once more and leapt forward while retracting my free-floating platform. My outsmarted pals fell screaming with their now silent beheaded counterpart, hoarse cries of retribution directed venomously in my direction before they cut off abruptly. I timed a blast of Air with my touchdown, crouching and distributing the impact.
    “Lacking in finesse, but the crude application appears effective enough,” Jeeves said.
    An expansive silence stretched and strained to its breaking point. Only the light patter of rain broke the oppressive lack of sound. A slow clap started and I raised my head to determine the source. The Royal before me cared little about his brood being wiped out, which was slightly disturbing. Even accepting the monster had no such emotions to spare, the loss of power could have deadly repercussions amid a court of bloodthirsty royalty.
    “I must say, that was quite an enthralling display. Might I suggest your talents are wasted outside of the stage?”
    My lips pressed together painfully, forced into a grim line. “This is not a game,” I informed him. “Death is not a game.”
    “Oh, what a spoilsport,” he pouted, and a vaguely Scandinavian accent surfaced. “Death is a doorway, a passage into the unknown. We all enter it alone. Why mustn't there be novelties before, to speed a soul on its merry way?”
    “You're despicable. Are all your kind as depraved?”
    The Royal made a show of polishing his immaculate nails on a soaked-through shirtfront. “I've always considered myself a cut above the rest, personally.”
    “Let's cut to the chase,” I snapped. “You want the power of my blood, and I want your taint wiped out of existence.”
    The vampire's hand stopped